The Friendly City is looking at taking a more formal approach to the process to approving special flag-raising and lighting ceremonies.
Belleville Council will consider a bylaw change to the policy at their meeting on Monday afternoon at 4 pm.
The new policy was developed to replace the existing one, that was originally drafted and passed back in 2009.
The report included with the proposed bylaw specifically mentions that previously there has been a lack of evaluation criteria, which has provided challenges when a request may be from for-profit organizations or related to ideological or religious beliefs.
The policy also sets out that Proclamations, Lighting and Community Flag Raisings will not be
issued for:
Political parties or political organizations
Promotion of business or commercial enterprise
Matters related to ideological or religious beliefs
Matters inciting hatred, or those that are discriminatory
Organizations or events with no direct relationship with the City of Belleville
Intent contrary to City policies or by-laws
Intent is to defame the integrity of the City of Belleville
Matters which are untruthful
To ensure that requests are handled consistently and equitably, a Proclamation must be
issued in order to also receive a Lighting or Community Flag Raising.
